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As usual, the Detroit Lions will be looking for help for their thin secondary this off-season, but ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said in a conference call today that it’s not a good year to get a playmaking defensive back at the top of the NFL draft.

“This is not a great year at all for cornerbacks,” Kiper said. “In fact, it’s a very sub-par year.”

Alabama junior Dee Milliner, who has yet to declare for the draft, is Kiper’s No. 14 prospect and one of only two defensive backs in the top 25. Texas safety Kenny Vaccaro is No. 20.

The Lions, 4-9 and losers of five straight, sit seventh in the draft order with three games to play. They play the Arizona Cardinals, another 4-9 team, Sunday in a game with big draft implications. Just three teams -- the Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders -- have worse records.

Kiper said the Lions have enough needs that they can draft just about any position in the first round.

“You think about this team and, defensively, where they have to go, I think that’s the thing that they need to sure up. Whether you say it’s getting after the quarterback and they, obviously, have guys who can do that now, or it’s a cornerback or it’s a safety,” Kiper said. “The problem is there’s not a cornerback or a safety right now with that elite grade.

“At the back end, they need a lot of help there, I think, in a pass-happy league and a division with Aaron Rodgers, in a division with (Jay) Cutler. They need to sure up the secondary. So it depends upon how many of these underclassmen come out.”

Kiper said defensive tackle appears to be the strength of the draft. He listed Georgia’s Jarvis Jones, Texas A&M’s Damontre Moore, LSU’s Barkevious Mingo and UCLA’s Anthony Barr as the top pass rushers, and he said Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o is worthy of a top-five pick after answering some concerns about his ability to be a three-down linebacker.

“Te’o, normally, if the draft was super strong at the top, would be a pick between, say, 7 and 12, but this year, there’s not that strength at the top,” Kiper said. “You don’t have a quarterback, you don’t have a running back, you don’t have a cornerback, you don’t have a safety. That’s why this has allowed Te’o, by going back to Notre Dame and having that great year for the No. 1 team in the country right now, playing for the national title, to be No. 2 on the big board.

“Somebody’s got to be up there. He’s deserving, in this draft, of being there. Normally, as I said, he’d be 7-12, but this year, he could be, certainly, one of the top three to five picks overall.”